We feel this restlessness; we lament our shrinking attention spans. But to focus on a relatively narrow question of technical measures of our attention span misses a deeper truth. The restlessness and unease of our times aren’t simply, in my experience, the vertigo of distraction and distractibility. No, that experience is itself a symptom caused by some deeper part of the unsettled self. The endless diversion offered to us in every instant we are within reach of our phones means we never have to do the difficult work of figuring out how to live with our own minds.
For many years I have, like an old man, taken a daily constitutional. I began in my early 20s, when I was a freelance writer, which meant working all day either at home or in coffee shops. I found it useful to go for a walk and clear my head. I’d go even on the bitterest days of a Chicago winter, when the wind slices at your face like a blade. I started doing this before the days of the smartphone and even before the days of podcasts on the iPod. During the walk I would just … think. I’d let my mind wander. Almost without exception, my best thinking happened on these walks. I would come back to my laptop, sometimes almost racing up the steps to my apartment, to get the thoughts down. […]
Daydreaming is a central experience of being alive and also a casualty of the attention age. Years ago, podcasts came to fill my ears during my walks, conditioning me to feel a little panicked without one. But as I’ve spent more time thinking about attention, I’ve begun to force myself to just walk and let myself be with my thoughts. I’ve also developed a set of routines, habits and hobbies that can provide the framework for a form of modified idleness, just enough to focus on to keep myself rooted and present while allowing my mind to wander. Chopping wood, making handmade pasta, going to the dog park with my canine-obsessed 6-year-old — these are all in the happy but endangered category of things to do that are neither work nor looking at my phone. […]
You can’t busy yourself out of boredom or amuse yourself out of it. Neither work nor constant entertainment provides a solution. Not for the king or for us. The problem we face is existential and spiritual, not situational. We cannot escape our own mind; it follows us wherever we go. We can’t outrun the treadmill. Our only hope at peace is to force ourselves to step off whenever we can. To learn again to be still.
— Chris Hayes, from “I Want Your Attention. I Need Your Attention. Here Is How I Mastered My Own.” (NY Times, January 3, 2025)
Notes:
- Photo from morning walk. 6:55 a.m. 18° F, feels like 0° F, wind gusts up to 30 mph. January 7, 2025. Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT. See more photos from this walk here.
- Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.
Still. I can get behind that. Or at least try really hard. This picture is the PERFECT image for that message.
Thanks. You? Can be still? Really?
Apart from the freelance bit, this sounds almost the same as my daily constitutional. Thanks so much for sharing, David. Take care, Julian
I‘m with Julian…. I do have one major problem and that is: I can‘t switch off my brain, yoga or meditation just isn‘t happening; my grey matter rotates faster than any chopper blade. It also works at night, where I don‘t mind so much as I once did: It gives me ‚time‘ to think of those who really, really can do with some mind- or prayer- or thinking-power…. About all the other insomnia issues one learns to live with!
And YES, sometimes, when HH asks what I‘ve done all day long, I have to think what to say and then I admit: Apart from xxxx, I was thinking…. (often followed by phone calls, a message here and there, an invite for a drink or meal, or a ‚reaction‘ of some kind) – and he goes: oh…. that‘s fine.
btw; I shall send you a ‚similar‘ but different photo I‘ve taken in the space of maybe 2minutes, on our way home from the hospital where my brother is now getting rehab. I‘ll put it on W‘app.
Thanks for the photo Kiki, beautiful. As to not being able to watch off, ME TOO!
This speaks to me. Walking and just thinking is a good activity.
So much wisdom here. I like to think that my cellphone is an optional tool, but I realized recently that it’s become integral to my daily routine in a way I don’t care for at all. Taking this urging to find stillness again to heart. Thanks for the nudge, pal…
I’m on the same playing field as you Lori. Same.
Wise words to be sure.
We (humans) need to be in charge of our technology… Not the other way around.
On a sidenote, I love the following sentence because it really captures the feel of particularly harsh winter days:
“I’d go even on the bitterest days of a Chicago winter, when the wind slices at your face like a blade.”
Yes. I been there, and felt that blade.
PAUL, to me it was the Toronto cold winds cutting through me that made that time unforgettable. (and then the moist, heavy summers).
‘Daydreaming is a central experience of being alive and also a casualty of the attention age.’ it is a frequent battle within me to not be distracted, or mulit-task out of habit, and I never feel that I’m winning it, but every moment that I can beat the beast back is a win and a practice session.
Me too Beth.
I have a lot to say, and will be back to say it.
But right now I need to run out on this bitter day of Chicago winter, jump in my car to daydream for the whole hour ride, on lakeshore drive, to work.
Lakeshore drive here is my Cove island park 🙂
Whatever your work is, this beautiful ride must be a joy to behold and make the whole job a happier thing.
Have you been here on lakeshore drive before?
I remember a comment you made years, ago…It was during the pandemic…You parked on an empty is it Michigan Ave.? You walked to see the Lake and encountered a policeman…He noticed your Hospital name tag (& I wonder if you were wearing a lab type coat, perhaps white or printed) Since he noticed your hospital ID – he knew you were a Hero!!! I’m glad you had that interlude and that you had your own policeman to keep you safe if someone wondering, about, tried to bother you…Enjoy your w/end..Kindly, Christie
Hi Christie, this sounds like fiction. But it did happen. This was in 2020. There was a store on Michigan Ave downtown chicago where the owner fed the Sparrows. They would storm in, tens of them. When stores closed, and because I had access to be downtown during the lockdown, I kept a big bag of bird food in the car. Everytime I went downtown I stopped by that store and left food for the Sparrows. What might make this sound more like it was fiction is that the police officer was on a horse. I swear, I’m not making this up. Thank you for the memory, Christie. I wonder why this is coming up now. I need to figure this out.
❤️
Amazing photo!
Oh yes. Until recently, I never listened to anything but the birds and the rustle of leaves during my walks. I have been obsessed with a couple of audio books and feel like I’ve gained in “reading” but lost in reverie.
I went to the article to get the rest of it (FFS, I am subscribed but I never find (look) the cool articles like you do! The very first paragraph made me think of you…
“I try to hold people’s attention for a living. For more than 13 years, I’ve been hosting a cable news show, and when I’m not doing that, I spend a lot of time alternating between reading the internet and obsessively posting my takes to various social media platforms. I tell myself that this is for my job, that I must, as a professional duty, keep up on the news, but it’s a little like a tobacco executive with a two-pack-a-day habit.
“Why am I like this?” I ask myself. What I want to say is that it’s not just me.”
wow Dale, that’s some insight (and now I wonder why we readers didn’t get access to ‘your’ part 😉🎵🐦⬛ so well describing our friend 😉
Just click on the link to the article to get the whole thing. It is rather long but very interesting.
Wonderful ♥️
Agree! Thank you.
I’m still learning how to be still, how to quiet my mind enough to really attend with thoughtfulness itting words like ‘should’ and ‘must’…
me too. Thanks and Love, nia
I’m in great company then…❤️
Oh, so me too Mimi.
Talk about a mind that runs amok – I’m not sure I hit ‘reply’ before. Needless to say, slowing my mind is a challenge in and of itself. But I’m trying
And I’m trying and trying and trying….
Love this, DK.
Thank you. Me too!
I always believe children should be taught and given opportunities (not sources of entertainment/reading/sports/devices)to sit just with themselves doing nothing for sometime a day .Let them get bored .
Sounds like an excellent idea!
I’m so glad you introduced me to this book! I feel like everything he says resonates to my bones. Always grateful.
So glad!
“The endless diversion offered to us in every instant we are within reach of our phones means we never have to do the difficult work of figuring out how to live with our own minds” It’s been at least 2 weeks that I’ve check my cell…and if I ever have to send a text it is such a chore…I lent my cell out and now my cell if all junked up with app updates…and the cell borrower name pops up with sign into google…I’m not pleased about that as I don’t have a google acct…I’m considering calling the service provider and having it factory reset…(the cell is a prepaid one, monthly, 3 months , 6 months or yearly)…
Hmmmmmm. Lending out cell phones is always risky. I’m sorry you’ve had these issues Christie.